Step 2: Dying Fabric

The natural color of the cotton I had purchased for Rey's shoulder sashes and arm wraps wasn't quite the color I was after. I wanted it to be more greyish-ish.

I played around with various dyeing techniques to see what I could come up with. After some experimenting, this is what I ended up doing to about two square yards of cotton:

Washed the fabric on hot cycle a couple of times to shrink and loosen up the fibers

Mixed about 3 table spoons of Pearl Grey Rit dye into 2 gallons of very hot (but not boiling) water in a bucket

Stirred the fabric around in this for about 5 minutes, and then rinsed it under cold water until the water ran clear

Mixed about 1 cup of instant coffee into 2 gallons of very hot water in another bucket

Stirred the now-lightly-grey fabric around in the coffee and rinsed, just as was done with the grey dye

Dried the fabric in the dryer and then ironed it flat

Step 3: Shoulder Sashes

For the shoulder sashes, I wanted them to be somewhat permanently wrinkled. Otherwise we'd be fussing with trying to make the wrinkles look right whenever my daughter wears this costume.

The details of the process I used are outlined in the photo notes.

Step 4: Shirt

The onesie I used for this was stark white, and I wanted it to be just slightly greyish.

To achieve this color, I dyed the shirt in one gallon of hot water with one table spoon of grey dye. I stirred it around for a few minutes and then rinsed it thoroughly. This created a very subtle off-white color.

The bottom snaps of the onesie were trimmed off to make it into a plain shirt.

Step 5: Pants

I happened to have an old sheet that was the exact color I wanted for Rey's pants.

Using a pair of my daughter's pajamas I made a rough pattern to use to make these pants. See notes in photos for details.

Step 6: Hip Bag/satchel

I made a hip bag to look like Rey's out of some old corduroy with various bits of things added on for detail.

Step 7: Belt

The belt was made with fake leather, hot glue, and some cotton string.

Step 8: Cuff Bracelet

A simple cuff bracelet was made with fake leather.

Step 9: Arm Wraps

The arm wraps were made from strips of cotton that were 1 1/4" wide by about 60" long. These were serged along the edges to keep them from fraying.

When worn, these are wrapped in place and then held on with safety pins.

Step 10: Quarterstaff

I wanted to make a very simple staff that just evoked the style of Rey's quarterstaff.

It actually turned out better than I had hoped for!

How this was done is outlined with lots of notes in the photos here in this step, as well as the next.

Step 11: Finish Details for Rey's Quarterstaff

The quarterstaff was painted and various colors were added to create depth and a bit of weathering.

Step 12: Boots

The boots were made by simply hot gluing pieces of wooly fabric onto an old pair of thrift store sneakers. I sent them through the wash first, however. Who knows what nasty foot germs the previous kid had!

Little details were added with fake leather and pieces of yarn.

Step 13: Done!

This Rey costume is not "movie-accurate" or anything, but I was happy with the ratio of details I was able to include for the time and effort I put in.

Thank you for taking a look. I hope this will help you with a similar project!

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33 Discussions

Hello, I was wondering if you could make this costume for my 3 year old daughter(she is in 4T clothing)? I will pay you of course. This is an amazing himemade costume. You can email me at jnickley@me.com.

I've never used a purchased pattern for any of my sewing projects - I just kind of like cobbling stuff together and figuring it out as I go! I guess it's just my defiant "I'm not asking for directions" man-trait ;)